Crime Pays for Writer Alan Sereboff

A Conversation with Alan Sereboff

by Jennifer M. Wood | Published February 3, 2007

For screenwriter Alan Sereboff, 2000 was a very good year. Working as a location manager, Sereboff couldn't have imagined-even a year ago-that today he would be one of Hollywood's most in-demand screenwriters. Simultaneously, he is working on several high profile projects. His screenplay, The Payback All-Star Revue, is currently in development for Icon and Miramax. Sereboff was also tapped to write the screenplay for the Christina Ricci vehicle Adrenalynn, and to adapt Robert Sabbag's brilliant drug exposé Snowblind. Somewhere in between the chaos, Sereboff also landed the coveted job of adapting Mario Puzo's last novel, Omerta, while signing a three-picture deal with Miramax. Here, Alan talks about struggling in LA, his meteoric rise to the top, and how he manages to get the job done.

Jennifer M. Wood (MM): You made the move from Baltimore to LA in 1992. What were those first few years like for you?

Alan Sereboff (AS): I had such a rocky road. The first four years were really spent trying to figure this town out and survive. Just financially, you try to get past the point where you're looking for the chili cheese dog dinner in between the sofa cushions.

MM: Did you ever regret your decision to move to LA?

AS: It literally got to the point where I had my plane ticket to go home. On the way to the airport, with two hours to kill, I was looking around and saw this painting in the window of an art gallery. My father is an artist and the painting in the window was by one of the artists he had worked with. I went in and started talking to the woman about the painting. She offered me a job, so I decided to stay.

MM: What was your first job in the industry?

AS: My first real job was on Money Talks (1997). I was working location and, after six months of pre-production, they decided to switch directors to Brett Ratner. Production shut down for the most part, but location stayed up. I never made it a secret that I was a writer on anything that I was working on. Word got around that I was the only other person besides the producer's assistant, Alyss Dixon, who knew how to use Final Draft. So my software knowledge got me my first "writing job." I got to write Doug Llewelyn's brief news report-my first words on screen.

MM: How did the opportunity to write your first script, The Payback All-Star Revue come about?

AS: I went to high school with a guy named Mark Mower, but lost touch over the years. I went to a writer's conference out here and ran into Mark, who was working at CAA. He asked to see some of my stuff and liked it. Mark said 'I've got this idea and am wondering if you could come up with a story.' His idea was about seven lounge musicians who rob the hotel they play in. I was intrigued. He is now producing the film.

MM: How long a span of time was it between this coincidental meeting and Icon's optioning of The Payback?

AS: There was this long, three and a half-year evolution of Payback before Icon got a hold of it and stepped in. The screenplay also went into Miramax at the same time literally five different ways. It never really evolved until Icon got into the mix and pushed it through. Kevin Lake and Karen Glasser (VP and President of Production, respectfully) over at Icon took such a great risk with the Payback project, and spent so much time developing it with me and Mark, that they are as big a part of it as anyone.

MM: Then how did Adrenalynn come your way?

AS: Because they were interested in getting the Payback script to a certain director, the script was sent to ICM. At ICM, Tracy Brimm read the script and they signed me. Mark Finkle, who was also on my team there, sent the script to Andrea Sperling and Christina Ricci, who were looking for a writer for Adrenalynn. They were really going after some A-list writers, but they responded to the Payback script.

MM: Does the idea of penning a comic book movie make you nervous? Your job is to come up with a story-beginning, middle and end-while the series itself is still ongoing.

AS: I don't know that you necessarily have to punctuate it with an ending. The main thing here is that you have to be true to the theme. Especially with something that has such a cult following, like a comic book, you want to try to be as true to it as possible.

MM: Is it intimidating, though, knowing how much trouble writers have had in the past adapting comic books to the screen? Look at the number of writers that were hired and fired on X-Men alone.

AS: Not at all. I had the total support of Tony Daniel, who wrote the comic. He had seen the treatment and approved, which meant a lot. You just have to be true to yourself and the medium you're working in. You hope the audience will respond to it, but if you're really going to worry about that, then an adaptation is probably not the thing to do.

MM: Let's talk for a minute about Omerta, obviously a highly coveted project. How did your name get on Miramax's short list of writers?

AS: Because Payback had circulated through Miramax, it garnered some attention. People liked the way it was structured and the way it was written.

MM: Did the fact that they called you to pitch it give you a bit more confidence walking in the door?

AS: It's Mario Puzo!

MM: They're already talking about an Omerta sequel. How does this affect your adaptation, knowing you might have to squeeze another movie out of one book?

AS: The process for me, really, is the same. I read the book through and through, and underline everything that I think it important. That is what I'll include in my first script.

MM: You're also the tenth writer to attempt adapting Robert Sabbag's Snowblind?

AS: Snowblind's been adapted about nine times, that's what I've heard. It's very tempting to adapt it straight but the thing is, it is an investigative report. Zachary Swan is a smuggler who, in real life, encountered very little resistance because he was so good at what he did. The lack of conflict due to his superior smuggling abilities really doesn't play well. That's where people have run into trouble.

MM: You grew up in the same section of Baltimore as Barry Levinson. How has his work affected you?

AS: My best friend back East is Barry Levinson's nephew, so we got to hang out on the set of Avalon. It was just magic to me. Barry's attention to detail has stuck in my mind all these years. Just the things he would notice and the way he spoke to actors. And his dialogue is genius. Anyone who can sustain a two-minute conversation on 'Do you want a bite of my sandwich,' come on.

MM: Success has found you relatively quickly. If it all went away tomorrow, would you be happy just to have had this experience?

AS: You know I've always said that [laughs]. When I was saying my prayers every night I'd say 'If you just give me the chance, I won't care,' but now I do. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

MM: So, let's see, we've got a Las Vegas heist, a cyborg out to destroy America, an untouchable drug smuggler, and a crime boss trying to go legit. There's a theme here. Even been arrested, Alan?

AS: Arrested, or convicted? (The answer, to both, is no.)

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Comment by Ivan D. Brown on 10/21/07 at 6:57 pm: I am a Crime writter probly the best in our time I wrote a script by the title of Armagetto which in no way the movies Blow, Scarface, or Heat can compete with on the level of crime I put crime in crime. I have an Ideah that may shock the industry. You see my sript Armaghetto is complete to be viewed, but Im working on a nother script that will be part one to the one already finished. Now the Ideah is to have the two scripts put together all of the Artist/Rappers I have in mind. For the promotion there will be a concert of all the Artist/Rappers, the concert will be added as an extra DVD. If I find a movie Agent that cabable of getting my work into the Artist/Rappers my work could easly be put in the stores for fifty dollars a copy plus sell over twenty million copies nation wide grossing about a billion dollars on my first project. I know this will be big for me as much as the people who choose to work with me, and my Idaeh I just need the just need the right people that can push my Ideah.
Comment by Cristian Star on 5/14/08 at 5:29 am: Some movies are so authentic that after finishing a movie about an alcoholic, the main character might want to join an alcohol treatment facility to cure their addiction.

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